Lots to think about there…

See, the problem that I have with calling the games above ‘Retro’ is due to the definition of retro. Encarta defines it as ‘modeled on something from the past such as a style of fashion or music’. GTA 3, a ‘classic’ game wasn’t really modeled on something before it, but instead was a ground breaking title that for that reason can now be considered a ‘classic’. As for today, sure a new GTA IV game could be considered ‘Retro’, but then again just about any game could be called retro based on this definition.

In this way, even Donkey Kong isn’t retro, but it is classic. However New Super Mario World would be retro.

Of course I get the greater meaning of the post here and am not trying to nit-pick. Great topic to ponder and one that I know comes up now and again on the boards at AtariAge.

Most often in that context, people debate what constitutes a ‘Classic’ console. As far as the community’s placement of thread topics into the two general forums, it has pretty much been accepted that topics in the ‘Modern Gaming’ section is reserved for any discussion surrounding current gen systems (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, etc.) and their respective games. The ‘Classic Gaming General’ section is reserved for game discussion of titles found on any console of any other generation (including Gamecube, original Xbox, etc). So of course in this light, one basically uses console production time periods to determine whether something is ‘modern’ or ‘classic’.

Nuances exist of course: where does the PS2 fit in? Fortunately for us in the community, no one takes offense if there are some topic classification issues compared to others’ way of thinking.

Of course, this is a more sterile means by which a community is able to categorize topic discussions in some reasonable manner, thereby facilitating others to find topics and participate in the dialogue. Again relating this to some of the console-centric discussions I have seen over at AA, this does not speak to whether a console is really ‘Classic’ or not, or in this case whether a game is really ‘Retro’ or not.

With the consoles, I think that although for thread purposes all Gamecube discussions are housed in the ‘Classic Gaming General’ category, and the community if fine with this classification, few at AtariAge would agree that the Gamecube is a ‘Classic’ console, at least not at this point. And people would definitely not consider it a ‘Retro’ console. Myself, I would argue the same with the games you mentioned Adrian: while I would be fine talking about GoldenEye 007 in a retro themed forum, I have a hard time referring to it as a Retro game.

But again, I would have less difficulty calling it a Classic game then I would calling it a Retro game.

Is this mentality a by-product of my age? Certainly could be: I was born in 1977, so yes, the games of my youth would have been found on systems such as the VCS, Colecovision and NES. Luckly enough for myself, everyone seems to agree that these are Retro games.

But in my opinion (based solely on anecdotal evidence and observation from various forums, especially AtariAge), even the younger community members I think would agree that a GoldenEye 007 and GTA 3 are not Retro games, whereas they may be classic games.

I think the issue is that somewhere along the line, “retro” became “Retro”, with a capital R, in relation to the gaming world. It as much speaks specifically to a certain time period in gaming, roughly from the Atari VCS days through the NES/Genesis/SNES days, as to the strict definition of the word retro mentioned above. That’s why, circling back to my original thoughts above, Donkey Kong can be considered ‘Retro’ with that important capital R, and Classic, even though it isn’t technically “retro” per the definition.

Sorry, super long post, but a great topic to scour over!

And I’m totally with you on Portal 2 being one of the best and most complete games. I actually found this site because I found a radio in the game that was playing ‘Exile Vilify’ which is a beautiful song. I hope there will be more Portal games to come.

As for Adrian – I never really saw if as a villain, if not a particularly good person. He was selfish and arrogant, but I certainly never hated him. I found his monologues on drugs very significant in their relation to septus (the name of which I related to the ’septum’ – the wall between the left and right sides of the heart – I wonder at significance of this?)

I did find the bit about aliens a little underdeveloped, as the book never really explored this, and we never really saw much outcome of this? I thought that the book stopped at a very good place, despite this.

Other things I thought signicant – a lot of teh juxtapostion between sections and narratives and points of view. Tem’s last part and Adrian’s (very fitting) end were too close together not to relate them. I originally was confused, and thought that Tem had killed Adrian, but then realised that it more probably meant Patient 8262’s assaulter.
Also, the OCD – I’m not entirely sure how, but this is significant.

One of the things I particularly liked about the writing of the book was the repeating of earlier pieces of text near the end. It all tied in, yet left so much to the imagination. The change from 1st to 3rd person and the occasional changes yet again and again, I (as did someone else further up the page) found symbolic of the moving on from total selfishness and solipsism, and also perhaps representative of flitting.

Mrs M? I don’t think that she’s Madame d’O. Sure, she could be an alien – if Banks says so. I don’t think that it’s really significant. If anything, I would think that her unusual features, as described by Adrian, were simply to do with the Calbefraques Mongol-influenced heritage. Tem doesn’t seem to make a huge deal of it, so maybe perhaps quite common where they come from? I’m more interested in what happened to her and Bisquetine, to be honest. Whether she ever sees Tem again.

I always felt quite bad for The Philosopher/Mr Kleist, in a slightly disgustedly fascinating sort of way. Before it went into more detail about the policeman who felt he needed to be punished (one of the most harrowing parts of the books, actually) I first thought that he might be the man about to torture Tem before he septus-free flits away. I really liked the bit about GF and the sugar cherries, although I always wondered why she had blood on her pencil-sharpener-blades, and why Kleist ever thought it would be a good idea to take one. The bit about his mother and father was also very good.

I thought that the CTs was very thought-provoking – the point about the Christian religion being strangely prone to terrorism made quite a lot of sense – the crucifixions, the martyrdom, the history of witch-burning, the Original Sin (and hence comfortableness in ‘innocent’ children dying) etc. Only problem is the little commandment that says ‘thou shalt not kill’…

The part of religion and Madame d’O’s obsession with racial purity was also very thought-provoking…

I need to be at Victoria for 9am everyday from Hillingdon.
What time should I get on the bus?

What is the rush hour traffic like and how long is the average journey in rush hours?

Many thanks!!

I’m sure I’ll have a lot more questions and ideas, but here’s one for starters: Can it be a coincidence that “Chaster Kammeston” and “Drester Commissah” sound so remarkably similar? No, I don’t think they’re meant to be the same person, but odd things happen whenever the “glass” theme, which you noted, enters the novel. Reality gets doubled or bifurcated.

Which leads to a sort of bonus question: What other famous “slipstream” novel (though most critics wouldn’t call it one) also features a puzzling introduction, a world of doubles and mirrors, and a slaying accomplished “by the false azure in the windowpane”?

However if you completely download an issue of the Atlantic from within the App, it should work perfectly fine when loaded offline.

Also you mentioned that the Atlantic magazine delivers its pages as images. This is simply not the case, the issues are rendered as PDFs, which will scale as print ready when viewed on the new retina ipad.

The good news is that currently The Atlantic is simply repurposing their print issues for the ipad, but this is changing shortly. Soon the Atlantic will deliver a version of their magazine tailor made for the ipad.

I do hope you revisit the App at that point and make your judgements then.

Ian

Same indian man
Yogi man